FACTS ABOUT PATENTS AND TRADEMARKS

What is a Patent?

A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention – a product or process that provides a new way of doing something, or that offers a new technical solution to a problem. A patent provides patent owners with protection for their inventions. Protection is granted for a limited period, generally 20 years.

Why are patents necessary?

Patents provide incentives to individuals by recognizing their creativity and offering the possibility of material reward for their marketable inventions. These incentives encourage innovation, which in turn enhances the quality of human life.

What kind of protection do patents offer?

Patent protection means an invention cannot be commercially made, used, distributed or sold without the patent owner’s consent. Patent rights are usually enforced in courts that, in most systems, hold the authority to stop patent infringement. Conversely, a court can also declare a patent invalid upon a successful challenge by a third party.

What rights do patent owners have?

A patent owner has the right to decide who may – or may not – use the patented invention for the period during which it is protected. Patent owners may give  permission to, or license, other parties to  use their inventions on mutually agreed terms. Owners may also sell their invention rights to someone else, who then becomes the new owner of the patent. Once a patent expires, protection ends and the invention enters the public domain. This is also known as becoming off patent, meaning the owner no  longer holds exclusive rights to the invention, and it becomes available for commercial exploitation by others.

What role do patents play in everyday life?

Patented inventions have pervaded every aspect of human life, from electric lighting (patents held by Edison andSwan) and sewing machines (patents held by Howe and Singer), to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (patents held by Damadian) and the iPhone (patents held by Apple). In return for patent protection, all patent owners are obliged to publicly disclose information on their inventions in order to enrich the total body of technical knowledge in the world. This ever increasing body of public knowledge promotes further creativity and innovation. Patents therefore provide not only protection for their owners but also valuable information and inspiration for future generations of researchers and inventors.

How is a patent granted?

The first step in securing a patent is to file a patent application. The application generally contains the title of the invention, as well as an indication of its technical field. It must include the background and a description of the invention, in clear language and enough detail that an individual with an average understanding of the field could use or reproduce the invention. Such descriptions are usually accompanied by visual materials – drawings, plans or diagrams – that describe the invention in greater detail. The application also contains various “claims”, that is, information to help determine the extent of protection to be granted by the patent.

What kinds of inventions can be protected?

An invention must, in general, fulfill the following conditions to be protected by a patent. It must be of practical use; it must show an element of “novelty”, meaning some new characteristic that is not part of the body of existing knowledge in its particular technical field. That body of existing knowledge is called “prior art”. The invention must show an “inventive step” that could not be deduced by a person with average knowledge of the technical field. Its subject matter must be accepted as “patentable” under law. In many countries, scientific theories, mathematical methods, plant or animal varieties, discoveries of natural substances, commercial methods or methods of medical treatment (as opposed to medical products) are not generally patentable.

Who grants patents?

Patents are granted by national patent offices or by regional offices that carry out examination work for a group of countries – for example, the European Patent Office (EPO) and the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI). Under such regional systems, an applicant requests protection for an invention in one or more countries, and each country decides whether to offer patent protection within its borders. The WIPO-administered Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) provides for the filing of a single international patent application that has the same effect as national applications filed in the designated countries. An applicant seeking protection may file one application and request protection in as many signatory states as needed.

What is a trademark?

Protecting IP Rights Is Crucial in Today’s World

A trademark is a distinctive sign that identifies certain goods or services produced or provided by an individual or a company. Its origin dates back to ancient times when craftsmen reproduced their signatures, or “marks”, on their artistic works or products of a functional or practical nature. Over the years, these marks have evolved into today’s system of trademark registration and protection. The system helps consumers to identify and purchase a product or service based on whether its specific characteristics and quality – as indicated by its unique trademark – meet their needs.

What do trademarks do?

Trademark protection ensures that the owners of marks have the exclusive right to use them to identify goods or services, or to authorize others to use them in return for payment. The period of protection varies, but a trademark can be renewed indefinitely upon payment of the corresponding fees. Trademark protection is legally enforced by courts that, in most systems, have the authority to stop trademark infringement. In a larger sense, trademarks promote initiative and enterprise worldwide by rewarding their owners with recognition and financial profit. Trademark protection also hinders the efforts of unfair competitors, such as counterfeiters, to use similar distinctive signs to market inferior or different products or services. The system enables people with skill and enterprise to produce and market goods and services in the fairest possible conditions, thereby facilitating international trade.

What kinds of trademarks can be registered?

Trademarks may be one or a combination of words, letters and numerals. They may consist of drawings, symbols or three dimensional signs, such as the shape and packaging of goods. In some countries, non-traditional marks may be registered for distinguishing features such as holograms, motion, color and non -visible signs (sound, smell or taste). In addition to identifying the commercial source of goods or services, several other trademark categories also exist. Collective marks are owned by an association whose members use them to indicate products with a certain level of quality and who agree to adhere to specific  requirements set by the association. Such associations might represent, for example, accountants, engineers or architects. Certification marks are given for compliance with defined standards but are not confined to any membership.

They may be granted to anyone who can certify that their products meet certain established standards. Some examples of recognized certification are the internationally accepted “ISO 9000” quality standards and Ecolabels for products with reduced environmental impact.

How is a trademark registered?

First, an application for registration of a trademark must be filed with the appropriate national or regional trademark office. The application must contain a clear reproduction of the sign filed for registration, including any colors, forms or three-dimensional features. It must also contain a list  of the goods or services to which the sign would apply. The sign must fulfill certain conditions in order to be protected as a trademark or other type of mark. It must be distinctive, so that consumers can distinguish it from trademarks identifying other products, as well as identify a particular product with it. It must neither mislead nor deceive customers nor violate public order or morality. Finally, the rights applied for cannot be the same as, or similar to, rights already granted to another trademark owner. This may be determined through search and examination by national offices, or by the opposition of third parties who claim to have similar or identical rights.

Contact your local CA who will walk you through the steps to register your trademark. If there is a problem of trademark and copyright infringement with your business first contact investigators like us to surreptitiously gather as much evidence as possible to present in court so that the culprits do not walk away without enough evidence to punish them. We help law firms nationwide in copyright and trade infringement cases but also work with smaller companies and private individuals who may not have the resources to hire a law firm. In such cases, we guide them on the necessary steps to conduct a raid or prevent the alleged culprits from further harming your brand name and IP rights.

Amit Sen, a commercial pilot by training, has over 15 years experience in the space of corporate investigations, handling Copyright & Trademark infringement cases, Pre – employment verification Industrial Espionage investigations, Asset & Net – Worth assessment assignments and vendor / supplier verification cases, among others. Co-founder of Alliance One – the best private investigators in India. Amit has also successfully completed assignments in a wide range of sectors, including the machine tools industry, pharmaceutical industry, hospitality sector, specialized equipment (Oil & natural gas sector, aviation industry etc.), telecom industry & the IT & ITes sectors. These cases have all involved both offline and online investigations

  

Tips To Enter The Investing World............

If you want your money to grow and make you rich, you need to invest it. Think out of the box and experiment with the papers (or so called currencies) in your pocket. 

Take it out from your bank account and spend it to gain some financial knowledge from your advisor. Yes it’s true, it's not so easy for a newbie in the market to invest and become a millionaire over nightly. 
For this, you need maintain some logical steps. Let’s check out some of them –


1. Save Some Money To Begin With.

 For a start you need some nominal money, but don’t think that after paying on your groceries and your room rent, you can begin with it. Build an emergency fund and start saving. This amount should be enough if you meet any financial loss in the near future. Once you are done with it, and then start keeping some money aside after your monthly expenses, which will make your way into the investment world.

2. Gain Some Financial Knowledge.

Don't be afraid if you don't know about making money with investments. What you lack is only knowledge. Rest all you have got. Don’t be shy to discuss about money matters with your elders or friends. Meet a financial advisor. Explain what and how much asset you have got and how you want to use to make wealth.

3. Do a Proper Homework.

Do not be overconfident. Sit and analyze the market. Keep a proper track of popular stocks. See how and when they go up or come down. No matter whether you are investing Rs.10,000 or Rs.1,00,000. The point is you should not invest it just because others are investing in a particular stock. You should have confidence that this stock will fetch you profit and to gain this confidence, you first need to do a proper research on the stock.

4. Be Ready To Take Risk.

Risk is a formidable factor of the stock market. But you should be open to take risk to gamble in the market. It is not recommended to take a high risk. Being in the market you can also face loss. Even in such case, you should not think and regret about it for long. Learn from your experience, and rectify the faults and re-enter the market. Yes you are taking risk, but this will have a positive this time, as you were able to rectify your previous mistakes.

5. Don't Go With the Trend.

Once you know to sense the market, don't tend to ignore analyzing the market. There is always new information roaming in the market. Neither believe them nor disrespect them. Evaluate the facts and cross check to come to an conclusion. Just don’t go with the trend. Just don’t follow because others are following it. This can be a biggest mistake of yours; even bigger than taking risk.

Successful Viral Campaign

There has been a extraordinary rise of online social media in the last few years. Facebook alone has over 750 million users worldwide and about 40 million users in India and the number of users is growing at an surprising movement.  In the last year alone, we have seen this medium being used to trigger revolutions for online advertising. Moreover, there have been several instances of "viral" propagation of content using such media, the most notable of which in India has been "Kolaveri Di". 
Needless to say, this opens up a great opportunity for marketers to reach out to their customers and create campaigns which are well targeted and can leverage the viral marketing potential of social networks.

The key business aspect for such campaigns is that they have extremely high ROI since your customers do the marketing for you once a campaign is initiated.

It is accepted that in order to make Viral Campaign successful, it needs to reach a critical mass.

There must be two elements "connectors" & "salesmen" where Connectors are people who have very large number of connections in their social networks. They have a wide reach and can broadcast message to a very large number of people. Salesmen are people who are persuasive with their recommendations. 

 They try hard to influence or recommend their thoughts to others and are successfully not because of their expertise but because of their persuasion skills. Gladwell argues that for a successful campaign, you need to have a mix of such personalities in your cascade to maximize reach.

The reach of a campaign can be far more than a random campaign. For instance, for a Facebook application, we can get the number of friends for a registered user and tag users with the maximum number of friends as connectors. Moreover, we can tag people who get maximum responses/actions from their recommendations.

Similarly, for people who send maximum recommendations can be tagged as salesmen. Once this profiling is done, special offers or discounts could be given to a mix of users from these profiles so that the chance of viral promotion a particular campaign is increased.

Further research on the above approach has shown that for all cascades those have been initiated by connectors and have the two other profiles as intermediaries have been most popular. However, cascades initiated by salesman and having the other two profiles as intermediaries have been the best targeted and most effective. The implication for a marketer is that for campaigns that are designed to increase the top of the mind recall of brands or products, it is best to give maximum incentives to connectors to be the initiators and some incentives to the other actors in their networks to propagate the message. However, if the objective of a campaign is to reach out to a niche audience or some specific sub-group, maximum incentives should be given to mavens so that they become initiators of cascades and some incentive should be given to the other actors in their networks.

In conclusion it can be said that if the product or service is good enough and is relevant for the market, it is possible to plan a successful viral campaign if we as marketers are willing to apply our minds in leveraging the power of online social media.

Corruption As Cancer For Entire System

Corruption Is The Cancer For Entire System

We all are talking about Justice for Damini and failure of our System but you ever know why our Police System is Failure. The most important question arises from our old Police laws and procedure for procedings, every part is 

being analyse and found The Corruption is the factor for all cause.

Corruption is like Cancer for Entire System, it has made Failure to our entire  Police System starting from Recruitment to Training, Training to Posting, Posting to Transfer, Transfer to Promotion and at last Promotion to Top level Postings.

If you reaserch on all these stages you can understand the mental condition and use of money on all stages even the flow of money. Every where Corruption Corruption and Corruption that is why i said it is the Cancer for System.

Anna Hazare ji is struggling to make India a Corruption free Nation by implementing    Jan Lok Pal Bill  but our Political Parties, Leaders, MLA, M.P. MLCs etc etc. all are some where not supporting this Bill at the Parliament and in state assemblies for appointment of Lokpal.     

May be the money flow in or out is moving around all these above parties is the only factor  stoping Jan Lok Pal Bill.

Corruption has made our mind self-centered , selfish, proudy, power full , clever.even we had lost Humanity, love , help , support, save like words in our day to day life specially in Police officials and Political Peoples.

Reforms in Entire System is need of India it is the Demand of Time and Demand of Public to make more transparency in our System.

Benifits of B2B Poatals

You must have heard of B2B portals but do not know what actually they are and how they can provide your business an upper edge over its competitors. Well B2B portal is a virtual marketplace or a common platform where buyers meet sellers and wholesalers.

With the evolution of internet in the past few years there has been a constant rise in searching the ways to equip business with a handy medium to market them. This is the reason that there are so many business to business portals present today.

Well B2B marketplace is ideal for those who want to take their business to new heights. With this service people can expose their business to a much larger group of people who are looking for availing some kind of services or are looking for selling their product online.

At B2B portal people can exhibit their products and services and can get instant enquiries. Suppose a person is looking for the best furniture items and you have enlisted your business on any of the business to business portal than that person will see your business profile over the portal and will enquire you to get the best deal. Not only the people who are looking for some kind of services get benefitted with B2B marketplace but those who are selling their products also gets their share of customer base.

The best reason for which you should enlist your business on these business portals is that you need not to invest a hefty amount on advertising and PR of your business. You can get instant enquiries and orders without making much effort. What else would you want when by paying a little amount you can generate huge profits?

Also there is no need for you to setup additional infrastructure or hire staff to sell your product. People who are looking for services will contact you seeing your business detail over business portal.

So if you want your business to generate profits that you always have aspired there is nothing better than taking the help of B2B marketplace.

Now there is no need to invest money on advertising, setting infra, hiring personnel to market your business.

Some of popular B2B Portals are:

www.alibaba.com

www.indiamart.com

www.globalcources.com

www.globalb2beurope.com

HOW TO OVERCOME CYBER CRIME

Cyber Crime is Closer to You Than You Think
Internet banking is convenient and almost everyone I know these days checks their bank balance online, transfers and receives money online all from the comfort of their desktops, laptops and even smartphones. But the joyride of convenience can quickly hurtle into disaster.

Criminals are Getting Smarter. Are You Keeping Up With Them?
Cyber criminals are the modern day dacoits. They are educated and highly intelligent people sitting behind a computer screen and they have the ability to do anything that they set their minds upon. 
 Their targets could range from simple individuals, multinational banks and even Governments; and you can bet your last Rupee that they can breach though all but the most stringent security firewalls and take away your last Rupee!

It was Gandhi who said ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has’.  I would say that in today’s world the same adage can be modified to -

Here are some tips for Secure Online Banking

Pay attention the the url. 

The url is the web address. Always access your internet banking account by typing the correct URL (e.g. http://www.standardchartered.com) into your browser. Double check the url before entering your personal information. For example ICICI bank’s official website address is http://www.icicibank.com/. Fraudsters may register a url such as iciciccbank.com or icicibankingsolutions.com and design a duplicate interface thus fooling people into thinking that they are on the ICICI bank site. They will steal your user name and password from here and then easily log into your account on the real ICICI bank’s site. Also never click on a link in an email to take you to a website, or enter personal details either in the email or website.

Password and PIN security

You should always be wary if you receive unsolicited emails or calls asking you to disclose any personal details or card numbers. Your internet banking information should be kept secret at all times. Never disclose personal information to individuals you do not know.

Please remember that a bank will never contact you directly to ask you to disclose your PIN or your full password information.

If it sounds too good to be true…

It probably is. Don’t be conned by convincing emails offering you the chance to make some easy money. As with most things, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Be cautious of unsolicited emails from overseas – it is much harder to prove legitimacy of the organisations behind the emails.

PC security

It is important to use up-to-date anti-virus software and a personal firewall. If your computer uses Microsoft Windows, it is important to keep it updated via the Windows Update feature, equally if you use another operating system you should check regularly for updates.

Do not ever use internet cafes or a computer that is not your own and over which you have no control to access your bank account. 

Keep your identity private offline

Your identity can be as easily stolen offline as it can online. It is important that you comply with instructions about destroying new PIN numbers and expired bank cards.

You should also consider using a paper shredder available in any stationary shop to destroy bank and other statements that may contain sensitive personal information. It is advisable to store retained documents in a suitable locked and fireproof container. Most people are complacent about such things and only repent when tragedy strikes.

Check your statements

Again something that most people are too lazy to read – bank statements! This can never be over emphasized. There are so many cases I have come across where the clients found out months later that their bank account was compromised. And by then it was too late because in the online world just like in the real world, locating the source of a crime through a trail is easier for forensics experts when the crime has been recently committed.

It is therefore important to check your statements regularly – either your banking account’s website or through the hard copies sent to your home by the bank. It does not take much time. A quick check will help identify any erroneous or criminal transactions that might have been performed on your account without your knowledge. So the next time that envelope arrives with the bank’s logo do not just throw it in a corner of the house!

Double Check your banking session and ensure that it is secure

When undertaking any banking transaction on the internet, make sure that you are highly alert. Check that the session is secure. There are two simple indicators that will tell you if your session is secure. The first is the use of https:// in the URL. Some browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome change the colour of the url window when you are in a secure session. The other indicator is the presence of a digital certificate represented by a padlock or key in the bottom right hand corner. If you double click on this icon it should provide you with information about the organisation with which you have entered in to a secure session. Look at the adjacent picture. The green tab on the left of the url bar is the secure certificate. Clicking on that tab will give you more information about the encryption used implying that it is safe to log in.

Check for spyware

In addition to being protected by using up-to-date antivirus software you should also regularly use software to remove spyware from you computer, as these programs record information about your internet use and transmit it without your permission. In some circumstances this can compromise your PC security. Call up a computer service guy and get your computer cleaned once in a month.

Ensure you log off properly

It is important to completely log off from your internet banking session; simply closing the window you performed the transaction in may not close the banking session. That is a bad habit. If your computer is infected with a Trojan, your session may become hijacked by a criminal and financial transactions may be performed without your knowledge. It is also advisable to disconnect from the internet if you are not planning to use it.

Those who download a lot of music and movies from bit torrent sites should not use the same machine for internet banking. Always use a secure machine that you know is not used by anyone else but you. Do not use the family desktop computer or your children’s laptops or desktops. Kids and teenagers are always downloading music and movies from illegal sites and that is the number 1. source of viruses and Trojans.

Bottomline: Money in today’s world is just a concept. It is denoted by numbers on a computer. Billlions of dollars are transferred everyday from one account to another by just clicking a button. The cyber criminal is smart enough to recognize that which is why it is no wonder that the smartest minds today and in the future will gravitate to cyber crime precisely because of the rewards and the low chances of capture. 

5 Tips for Marketing Your Import Export Company

To successfully market your Import Export business you must first identify who your customer is, then you research what is the best way to reach that customer, complete a financial analysis to determine what type of return you hope to accomplish, set a budget and finally monitor your campaign. By using these 5 tips, you will be able to successfully market your Import Export Company.

It may sound simple to identify who your customers are but this is often where businesses fail. Review exactly what products you will be importing and exporting and determine whether your customer is male or female, what age group they fit in, where they live and what income level they are at. This information can be obtained from looking at your current customer base, researching the customers your competitors are targeting and most importantly, determining who the ideal customer is for you import export business.

Once you have identified the customer you wish to target, you can choose what tool to use to market your business. If it is an older client, more traditional means of print advertising may suffice. If it is a younger client, social media and other online tools may need to be utilized. If the audience is much broader based, other more branding type activities (event sponsorships) could be considered. Whatever tool is used, you need to differentiate yourself from your competitors and give a compelling reason for customers to choose your import export business.

When you develop a marketing plan you need to determine what type of return you expect for your investment. This will depend on what your goals of marketing the business are. If they are to promote the import export business brand, the returns will be hard to measure. A marketing plan can truly be successful when clearly defined goals are identified. An example would be to set a goal of exporting an additional one million widgets over the next year. Other goals could be to draw more people to your website, have more followers on your social media sites or to add more names to your mailing and emailing lists. All of these are examples of measurable goals for a marketing plan.

Once you have determined a return, set a budget based upon meeting your goals. Your marketing goals should be measurable against your campaign expenditures. For example, if the goal is to increase business by adding additional visitors to your website, you could calculate the total amount of import export business is generated through your website and divide that total by the number of visitors. Then determine how many additional visitors you would need to have to meet the increase import export sales and set your goals to attract additional visitors.

Finally, the most important thing with any marketing of any business is to closely monitor your marketing efforts against your goals. Do not expect immediate results as any good campaign takes a while, but do track the results closely. Produce regular reports tracking each tool used in your campaign. Be flexible and willing to make changes in your marketing plan to meet your goals.